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Photo of the DayJune 7 - Cap d'Agde, France The Photo of the Day is of Giovanni Soldini's new 60-ft Marc van Peteghem/Vincent Lauriot Prevost-designed 60-ft trimaran Fila, launched just in time for the Cap d'Agde Grand Prix in the South of France. Around the world winner Soldini will be competing against seven other similar trimarans in what is currently the hottest racing in Europe. Instead of the conventional daggerboard arrangement, Fila has a dinghy-style centerboard - albeit 16-ft long - which rotates aft into a case. The use of giant hydraulic rams attached to the shrouds, allowing the mast to be canted to weather, was first tried out on Loïck Peyron's original Fujicolor (now racing as Belgacom). Now all the 60-ft tris have this system. Fila, however, has gone a stage further and has a hydraulic ram on her forestay so that the mast can be canted both sideways and fore and aft. One 60-ft tri that won't be entered is Marc Guillemot's La Trinitaine-Team Ethypharm, which lost her starboard bow in the Mondial Race and was abandoned by her crew. Before a salvage vessel could get to her, an American ship came alongside and smashed her port hull, then took her in tow at 18 knots for 250 miles. When her mast fell down, she was abandoned. Guillemot's team is hoping to put the uninsured boat back together again before the end of the season. |
 Photo Courtesy madforsailing.com |
Latitude Defends BCDC?June 7 - Sausalito  Richardson Bay anchorage from a hilltop in Sausalito Photo Latitude/Richard According to BCDC Staff Attorney Ellen Sampson, that is not the case. Even though all the anchor-outs are illegal, Sampson says the new strategy only calls for making sure that there are fewer illegal anchor-outs a year from now. She assured us that there is no plan to kick everyone out - even though they're illegal - in the near future. We've been severe critics of the BCDC for a long time on several key issues, but if what Sampson tells us is true, and if the BCDC keeps an open mind about reasonable future use of Richardson Bay, we think they may be headed in the right direction. |
Fact and Fiction at the Golden Gate YCJune 7 - San Francisco If you don't mind, Mike, we'd like to take a few minutes here a clear up some gross errors in what has been reported about the relationship between the Golden Gate YC and Oracle Racing. When you say that the Golden Gate cut a nice deal with Larry Ellison and Oracle Racing, we presume you base it on the article by Rich Roberts in a recent issue of The Log. In that article, Roberts quoted Lynda Myers of the YRA as saying that Oracle gave the Golden Gate YC $1 million - which simply isn't true. As Norbert Bajurin, Commodore of the Golden Gate YC, explained, "The Golden Gate YC is a 'not for profit' organization. We have no common stock, and we cannot offer ourselves for sale. There was never a form of payment, loan or donation ever discussed between the Golden Gate and Oracle Racing." So calling the Golden Gate 'Ellison's Restaurant' is no more accurate than it would have been to call the St. Francis YC 'Cayard's Restaurant' the last time around. |
 Golden Gate Yacht Club Photo Latitude/Richard Since there are so many ridiculous rumors surrounding the Golden Gate-Oracle arrangement, we decided to call the Golden Gate YC and ask them if their food service has changed in any way - as you have claimed. When we called the club yesterday afternoon, the phone was answered by Chef William Chow - who has a good name for a cook. When we asked if the food has changed in any way since the arrangement with Oracle, he said it was the same as long as he'd been there - which predated Oracle Racing's arrangement with the club. So maybe Oracle Racing's association with the club simply makes the same food taste more delicious. And it wouldn't surprise us if the bartenders and other staff didn't now take a little more pride in their work. |
Small Cat on a Rough OceanJune 7 - Pacific Ocean Caldwell said the crossing took 21 days, and wasn't bad until they got off Pt. Reyes in a lot of wind. It was blowing about 35 knots with steep seas, and when they really started going fast, the rudders cavitated. "Our top speed was 16 knots with no sails up. Twice a hull lifted out of the water and we almost flipped." During that period, B.J. said he wished he'd been in the 26-ft monohull he singlehanded around the world. |
 BJ Caldwell Photo Courtesy http://holoholo.org/caldwell/index.html |
June 7 - Atlanta, GA
A television documentary about the deadly 1998 Hobart Race will
be the focus of CNN Presents this Sunday, June 10, at 7:00
PM PDT (that's 10:00 PM for you right coasters). Based on Bruce
Knecht's new book, The Proving Ground, this special features
rare footage of the race and some rescues. It's told from the
perspective of the sailors and rescuers who lived through the
event. People who have previewed this program tell us it's very
well done. See www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/showinfo.html
for more info.
June 7 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
June 7 - Pacific Ocean
To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
Looking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you
might check out the Pacific Ocean sea states at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
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